Vitraux<DL><DT><a target=_blank href="http:www.bed-and-breakfast-in-the-dordogne.com" target=_blank>www.bed-and-breakfast-in-the-dordogne.com<A><DT><DT><a target=_blank href="http:www.stainedglassinfrance.net" target=_blank>w

Hi All, My daughter has just returend to the nest with her 9 month old baby after a very traumatic break up with her spanish boyfriend, does anyone know of a mother and baby group in the Bergerac area, French or English, she speaks French, English and Spanish. I think it will do her good to get out and about with the baby and meet other mums and babies.   Thanks   Ann

St. Nexans 5 minutes form Bergerac Airport, we moved here 2 years in September myself and my Hubby Richard, we run a B & B and also a small gallery de vitraux ( stained glass).   Previously we lived in the Poitou Charentes region of France and before that in Lanzarote.   We have a new baby granddaughter and would love to see more of her - she lives in Lanzarote.   We love living in France but sometimes it can be hard especially language wise.   If you are picking up or dropping people off at the airport by all means pop in for a coffee we would love to see you.   Ann

Hi All.   just heard about these new routes starting on February 6th 2006, availalbe to book now at prices from £5.99 or 9.99 euros. one way.   Great news for anyone north of the Watford Gap.   Ann.

Hi all, Just spent 3 weeks creating two ponds one flowing into the other via railway sleepers, I need 2 pieces of liner 3 metres by 3 metres, ie 18 square metres, I have been to the local Garden Centre (desmartis) and the price is extortionate, 7.45 euros per square metre and as it is 4 metres wide and I need a 3 x 3 then I would have to by 6 metres by 8 metres which is is even worse.   Is there an alternative solution ie: pvc for use under floors for damproofing .?   Any help would be appreciated, certainly can't afford the above.   Ann.

Hi All, Just to let you know as part of the Mai des Arts in Bergerac, there will be an open air exhibition of artists and artisans in Bergerac Town Centre on Sunday May 15th there will also be live music and lots to do and see.   I will be exhibiting and if you are a member of the forum then please come and say hello.   Richard Mahoney La Maison des Vitraux

Hi Benson, Don't know whereabouts you are but Flybe fly everyday to Bergerac if that's any good. http://www.flybe.com Hope this is of help. Ann.

Hi All, just received my reply from Moneybookers - In French!. as follows:- Cher Monsiueur, Nous vous remercions de nous avoir contacté. Nous vous prions de noter que comme vous voudriez effectuer un transfert d'un compte bancaire hors de votre pays de résidence, vous devez effectuer un transfert international vers nos détails bancaires suivants: account holder : Moneybookers Ltd. BANK NAME : Commerzbank AG ACCOUNT NUMBER: xxxxxxxxx BANK CODE: xxxxxxxx SWIFT: Cxxxxxxx ADDRESS: Kaiserstr. 30, Frankfurt, Frankfurt, 60311 Country: GERMANY SWIFT: xxxxxxxxxxxx IBAN: xxxxxxxxxxxxxx Meilleures salutations,   l'équipe de moneybookers.com I have blanked out the account numbers etc. to be honest I thought it was a scam e mail I mean this could have come from anyone and I could be uploading thousands of pounds into their bank account, I wrote to them in English and my preferred language on the site was English, because I live in France they assume I am French, also this is an internatiional transfer which would cost me a lot more than 1.80 euros.   All I wanted was their English Bank Account details so i could upload from my bank to theirs without incurring any fees. Ann  

Hi All,  I have just opened an account with Moneybookers in Euros, - no problems, they gave me the details of their account in Paris, to transfer the money to.   When I go on line with my Bank (Lloyds), they ask for sort code and account number for the transaction, o.k. but the problem is that the French bank has a different sort code and account number than the English banks,  and Lliods give me an error when I ty to use it. How do I get round this, I have sent an e mail to moneybookers but haven't received a reply.   If I ring Lloyds and ask them to transfer the money to Moneybookers in Paris, then surely this is an international transfer and will incurr a fee, I might as well send the money to my own French Bank if that is the case.   Any suggestions would be helpful   Ann

Hello again, It seems Ben has replied at last on the visit france forum, this is part of his reply:- Some businesses have unbeatable location or product offerings which simply market themselves. These are probably not relevant to this discussion. Some generate 4 figure numbers of enquiries. Those people don't contribute here - presumably too busy! Of the rest, the individual merits of a property are a most variable commodity, and owners should try to make an accurate assessment of the market, competition, season duration etc, in order to start out with a realistic idea of the venture's cashflow. Main drivers are: Region; proximity to the sea; proximity to channel ports and UK-linked airports; regularity of use of 'daily priority update' [mentioned below]; property features such as: en-suite bathroom[s], four poster, special property/setting/grounds, swimming pool, good food, fishing; presentation to visitors in the website - eg detailed prices, availability, comprehensive desciption, plenty of [hopefully well lit and sharp] pictures. So a coastal property with a pool and good communication links is likely to generate more bookings than an inland cottage off the beaten track with no pool! Hopefully, the property also cost an awful lot less, and your income requirement from it is similalrly reduced. The daily update is important for some properties   My reply is this We don't have a pool but have quality accommodation and are only 5 minutes drive from Bergerac Airport,  I update my visit france site every day and have 4 special offers running at all times, which again I change and update every 14 days. Ben's reply does not address the real problem here which is that the bookings have dried up since JANUARY 2005 - we want to know why and not that our properties are possibly not good enough - that is rubbish. :? Lets have a proper reply please Ben or at least a partial refund, visit france is the most expensive site I am with and I was happy to pay last October because they seemed to be well run and were always on the first page of any search. We had lots of enquiries and 90% of these turned into quality bookings. - this all stopped in January. So what has happened - there must be a reason - can you please just let us know - there is no shame in admitting  there is something wrong with the site  [b]nobody is perfect.[/b] :twisted: Ann

[quote]Mine is still there http://www.goholidays.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=39 and apart from somebody saying 'here, here' there is no responce from VF. Mind you as it's only two people who run the whole th...[/quote] Hi there, Look again Quillan, I had a look yesterday and yes your reply was there, but today I had another look at the forum to see if there were any replies and your message doesn't seem to be there It is such a shame because I think they are a really good site and perhaps they are just having problems with servers and things, but if only they would let us know then we wouldn't have to do this. Lack of communication is the worst thing in business. I have only been in this business for 8 months so I have no comparisons but as they were so good last year and only stopped with the enquiries in January there has to be some kind of reason why and looking at the thread January seems to be the common denominator. Let's hope they fix whatever the probem is and get back to feeding us with quality enquiries.   Ann. 

[quote]I have raised a post on their forum with links to the five threads here that are complaining about their service and I have invited them to reply. I am rather interested to see if they do reply or if ...[/quote] Hello Again, Ann here, I  posted my concerns on the Visit France Forum 2 weeks ago, I have just had a look and funnily enough my thread seems to have mysteriously dissappeared, I couldn't see yours either Quillan.   Do you think these people were only good until they had relieved us of our hard earned cash, that's the feeling I am getting, if they are having problems with their server or website and they are addressing them then fine, but why not send their advertisers an e mail explaining this and offer a discount or refund while this is going on.   I feel that whilst they were wooing me with their free trial I had lots of enquiries, but now i am a fully paid up member not a sausage.   Look forward to lots of interesting replies.   Ann

Hi all, Does anybody know what has happened to this company, I registered with them last October and had lots of enquiries, and 95% of my bookings came from them, but since the beginning of this year I haven't had a sausage. It is such a shame because they were very good and I had an average of a couple of enquiries per week.   These are the only paid English site I am with so I am getting a little nervous now, although I realise it is early days yet for the season.   I am on some trial periods with various other sites but to be honest they don't seem to be as good as visit france used to be, any suggestions would be gratefully received.   Ann

Hi All, Are there any 40 somethings out there?, we are close to Bergerac and would love to make some friends. We love the French lifestyle and we do have lots of French friends and quite a few English friends of shall we say retirement age or over, nothing wrong with that, but we do miss a good crack with people of our own age ( mid 40's). Our interests are, live music ( any type - but not that keen on Jazz), art and achitecture, good food and good wine, and basically having a laugh. We are very happy here but it can be a bit lonely sometimes especially in the winter. We run an art gallery and a B & B, we have a daughter who is married and lives in Lanzarote and a new granddaughter, (too young I know!!) but we had our daughter young and she followed suit. Anyway if you are young and able and fancy a laugh and a good old natter, and are in our area, then get in touch. Ann & Richard.

Hi All,   I am glad I came across this thread, I have never heard of moneybookers and have been using my debit card to withdraw cash from my Lloyds Account, this is expensive, moneybookers seems too good to be true at 1.80 euros, do i just give them my English and French Bank account details and they transfer it direct, and is it safe?   Thanks,   Ann

Thanks Tel.# I will buy one straight away.   Best Wishes   Ann

Just returned from Lanzarote, torrential rain and winds for 10 days on the trot only one sunny day in 2 weeks (the worst winter in 72 years) it snowed on Gran Canaria while we were there, first time ever in it's history. The weather patterns of the world are definitely changing, we are in the dordogne and it has been a long cold winter, and expensive with the price of the Fuel at the moment.   When will it end?, doesn't look like it this week forecast is -9 for tonight, better get those bedsocks out.   Ann xx   P>S> Still better than living in the U.K. though ....

Hi Isobel, We are just off the RN21 nr. to  Chateaux Monbazillac, is that where you are, I am not sure where the three departments meet, but it can't be far as we are right at the southern end of  dept., 24 about 8 kilometers south of Bergerac on the Agen road.   Ann

Hello all you techies, Can you please help me, I have some films which were given to me by a friend they are on Cd's, in MP3 format I can watch them on the pc but thought it might be good to see them on TV, I bought a dvd kit with a video and hi fi lead and connected it, but on my properties - advanced tab I don;t seem to have the option for TV out. My system is Windows XP proffessional, recently upgraded with SP 2, my graphics card is an intel R 82810 and I use Media player 10, do I need a special graphics card to watch the pc screen on TV?   Any help would be appreciated.   Thanks   Ann    

Can anybody tell me the equivilant pastry to the u..k. Flaky, puff and short crust. I have seen Fuellette (spelling) Brisee, and Sable I presume feullette is flaky, as it means sheets, but which of the other two is short crust -  if any. and is it sweet or savoury.   I want to make mince pies for my French neighbours but am hopeless at making pastry, which one shall use. I have been given 2 jars of mincemeat by a friend so all I need is the pastry. As you can tell Iam not Delia.   Any advice would be welcome   Ann.     I  

Hi All,   Thanks for the replies, I think I had better set up a hotmail account - can anybody tell me how to do this and please not too technical, remember it brings me out in a rash. Thanks   Ann

Hi there Does anyone else have this problem. I have friends in France and the u.k. with AOL e mail addresses and my mail does not seem to get through, I can receive from them but not everything just sometimes, but whenever I reply my friends say they don't receive anything, it isn't being sent back to me by the postmaster so where is it going?   Is it because America and France don't like each other.   I am with tiscali.fr who apart from this have been brilliant I have been with them for years.   Please don't make any replies too technical !! I am allergic to that sort of stuff.   Ann

Hi All, Thanks for all your replies, thanks to my question one of the forum members contacted me and I have purchased a' pretend woodburner' from her, it is brilliant, just what I was looking for. I would recommend them to give focus and atmosphere if you already have central heating, the flame effect is excellent, everyone that comes in thinks it is real.   Thanks again everyone for your help, the forum definitely works for me.   Ann

HI ALL, I HOPE THIS IS THE RIGHT FORUM for this question.   I am looking for an electric fire that looks like a woodburning stove, no I have not lost my marbles, but I have a fireplace without a chimney and would love to give the impression of having a woodburner, I seem to remember seeing something like this in a D.I.Y. shop a couple of years ago, but I haven't been able to find one in this region ( I moved to dept. 24 last year.) It looks like a woodburner black and cast iron, but the logs are not real and have electric bulbs in a bit like the old fashioned English electric fires.only not as kittschy and at the bottom is a sort of convector throwing out heat a bit like a fan heater.:   I know it sounds a bit wierd but the one I saw looked quite good and it saves a hell of a lot of hard work cutting up wood and less smoke and dust.. If anyone has seen one or knows who makes them I would be grateful Ann

[quote]Can anyone help out? We are trying to sell our house in the Charente, Dept. 16. So far, we have not had much joy and wonder if anyone could recommend a good estate agent? Thanks.[/quote] Hi Elizabeth,   Private message in your in box   Ann

[quote]Couldn't resist buying of bottle of this from the local Super U yesterday. Tastes just like a blast from the past - liquid Parma Violets, remember those? Can have a bit of fun here as when diluted, lo...[/quote] I was introduced to Violette in our local bar not the person the syrop, quite a few of the locals drink it in a glass of red wine, they say it mellows the flavour ( seems a bit of a sacrilage to me), but the locals drink all sorts of funny coloured drinks, don't ask me why? We live in Dept. 24, but I have never seen this in any other area,we used to live in Dept. 16 and it was never available in any of the bars there.   Ann